Texas BlogWire

August 26, 2008

“We are honored that Lilly Ledbetter will address the Democratic
Convention,” said Senator Barack Obama. “The fact that women are paid
less than their male coworkers for doing the same job is unacceptable
in the 21st century and counter to both the progress we've made and our
shared values as Americans. Lilly Ledbetter's case before the Supreme
Court has once again awakened the nation to this discrimination, and
it's time we join together to right this wrong and pay women equal pay
for equal work."

“The theme of Tuesday night’s program is
Renewing America’s Promise, and there is no more critical promise that
we can keep to American women than to ensure pay equity,” said Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, Permanent Chair of the 2008 Convention. “There is a clear
difference between the parties when it comes to pay equity, and this
election could not be more critical when it comes to garnering support
for reversing the Supreme Court’s recent 5-4 decision in the Ledbetter
v. Goodyear case. As American women are called upon to do more and
more for their families with less and less resources coming in, the
least we can do is to ensure pay equity.”

August 11, 2008

The sudden war in the Caucuses involving Russia and Georgia is quite disturbing. It's inspired me to do a bit of reading on the recent history that led to this battle. From this reading, it is clear that the tensions between Russian and Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia have been building for quite a while. What also seems clear to me is that these tensions have absolutely nothing to do with the interests of the American people, and so we, as a country, should stay far clear of this dispute.

I don't see any obvious good guy in this fight based on what I know now, and the downside of major intervention is a war with Russia, which, needless to say given the huge nuclear arsenals on either side, would be very very very bad. Where is the comparable upside?

For the Bush administration (and its annointed successor John McCain) to have encouraged Georgia in its quest for NATO membership seems extraordinarily foolhardy and I'm glad German chancellor Angela Merkel was able to put a halt to that earlier this year.

I'd like to point out a few facts of recent history that I've discovered from my reading -- found through that obscure tool "Google News" -- facts that suggest that a lot of the rhetoric we see flying around about Georgia's allegedly "democratic" government is way overblown.

From the New York Times last November, less than nine months ago (emphasis added):

TBILISI, Georgia, Nov. 15 — Educated in America, fluent in four languages and in the values of free-market democracies, Mikheil Saakashvili
was supposed to have been different. When he was elected president of
Georgia after a bloodless revolution in 2003, he was deemed a savior
for the post-Soviet landscape, as if he had been conjured by a
committee of Washington think tanks and European human rights groups.

Yet this week, with Georgia under a state of emergency after his
government quashed a large demonstration and violently shut an
opposition television station, Mr. Saakashvili seemed, even in the eyes
of some steadfast supporters, to be ruling with the willfulness of the
very autocrats that he once so disdained. Was his true temperament
showing, or had the burdens and realities of office somehow changed him?

After shutting down the opposition media, Saakashvili called for quick elections, in which he won a narrow majority. Does an election under these circumstances deserve to be called "democratic"?

"The president [Saaskashvili] has not behaved like a mature democrat, and many feel
that he bought votes with promises and benefits," Swedish observer
Birgitta Ohlsson was quoted by the newspaper Dagens Nyheter as saying.
"We regard this with anxiety."

The head of the observer mission, Hastings, said the election
revealed problems that must be addressed urgently. "The future holds
immense challenges," he said.

The observers' report cited violations on election day, including
cases of multiple voting. The most damning section was on the vote
count, which they said was very slow in most polling stations they
visited and basic procedures were often not followed.

August 04, 2008

When the City Council approved San Antonio’s first tree-preservation
ordinance in 1997, there was no question the rules applied to real
estate developers.

But what happens when a property owner claims he’s not a developer,
and hundreds of acres of trees are bulldozed on his land as part of a
ranching operation?

In the case of Hugo Gutierrez Jr., the answer is: nothing. The tree
ordinance didn’t apply to him — and it might not apply to developers
who try the same thing.

The case highlights a potential loophole in the preservation
standards that can be used by other real estate developers, many of
whom criticize the city’s rules as excessive and expensive.

Environmentalists complain San Antonio’s tree canopy is rapidly
disappearing. They said Gutierrez’s case illustrates a way around the
city tree ordinance, which requires developers to save trees and pay
mitigation costs.

As if the state legislature hasn't hobbled local communities enough with the vast loopholes that fit under "vested rights." Read on for the gory details, and plenty of them.

"My suggestion of what we'll do, and I intend to talk to our City
Council about it, is that we create, by ordinance, a provision that
when an agricultural property is cleared of trees, and then sold to a
developer, then that becomes a taxable event. So that you have to pay
the mitigation damages. Because it's no longer being used for
agricultural land."

Hardberger acknowledged his proposal will be challenged in court by the real estate community.

"It's certainly possible it will be challenged," the mayor said. "I
would anticipate it would be challenged because it's a pretty sweet
deal now."

Hardberger said he will also ask Bexar County legislators to write a bill that would amend Texas law to help the city's cause.

"I doubt when the Legislature was trying to protect agricultural
land, I doubt if they envisioned that (ranchers will) clear all the
trees and sell it to a developer. That probably was not envisioned. I
think there will be legislators who will be willing to close that
loophole."

Hardberger said he will also direct lobbyists who represent the city to support such legislation.

"One thing I'm not going to do is just to sit here for the last year
of office and watch trees be cleared on a grand scale and feel like
there's nothing we can do but wring our hands," Hardberger said. "I'm
not going to do that. I'm going to take action."

Will the Legislature block any attempts to rein in the bad practices of real estate developers yet again?